Stuffed Crochet Christmas Tree

Throughout this winter I've been going crazy crocheting things to keep myself sane. It's a great stress reliever and I love hand making things for people. Blankets have long since become boring for me unless they're for new babies so I have been trying new things. Stuffed animals, trucks, etc. thanks to this wonderful book called Cuddly Crochet by Stacey Trock. I added the light bar to the top of the truck, and changed the headlights because I was making it for a cop friend who drives a truck and I was trying to mimic it to the best of my abilities. The blue bird turned out much better than the red bird because it was my second time around so I learned what to do and what not to do. Ultimately my "nephew" loved the little birdie so it was a success!

I then decided to make a Christmas tree as a white elephant gift because it was easy and cheap and this was how it turned out:

I just thought it would be a cheap white elephant gift, the person that got it loved it and when I posted it on facebook my grandma then saw it and said she wanted one. So I decided to make bigger one and actually write down the pattern. Plus I had this super cute piece of fabric from a jar of bean soup that I thought would make a perfect "tree skirt." Grandma loved it and here's how it turned out:

Here's the pattern:

You are working in the round for this whole pattern so you will crochet in the back loops the entire time. It WILL help if you have a stitch maker to keep track of your rounds. If you don't have a fancy stitch marker you can use run of the mill safety pins to keep track of the end of your rounds so you know how far you've made it.

For the Tree:

Round 1: ch 2, sc 3 in 2nd ch from hook.

Round 2: sc 2 in each st.

Round 3: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 4: sc in each st.

Round 5: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 2 st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 6: sc in each st.

Round 7: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 3 st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 8: sc in each st.

Round 9: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 4 st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 10: sc in each st.

Round 11: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 5 st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 12: sc in each st.

Round 13: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 6 st, repeat from * 2 times.

Round 14: sc in each st.

Round 15: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 5 st, repeat from * 3 times.

Round 16: sc in each st.

Round 17: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 6 st, repeat from * 3 times.

Round 18: sc in each st.

Round 19: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 7 st, repeat from * 3 times.

Round 20: sc in each st.

Round 21: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 5 st, repeat from * 5 times.

Round 22: sc in each st.

Round 23: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 6 st, repeat from * 5 times.

Round 24: sc in each st.

Round 25: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 7 st, repeat from * 5 times.

Round 26: sc in each st.

Round 27: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 8 st, repeat from * 5 times.

Round 28: sc in each st.

Round 29: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next 9 st, repeat from * 5 times.

Round 30: sc in each st, fasten off with long tail

For the bottom of the tree:

Round 1: ch 2, sc 6 in 2nd ch from hook.

Round 2: sc 2 in each st.

Round 3: *sc 2 in next 2 st, sc in next st, repeat from * 3 times.

Round 4: *sc 2 in next st, sc in next st, repeat from * 9 times.

Round 5: *sc in next 2 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 9 times.

Round 6: *sc in next 3 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 9 times.

Round 7: *sc in next 4 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 9 times.

Round 8: *sc in next 11 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 4 times.

Round 9: *sc in next 4 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 12 times.

Round 10: *sc in next 12 st, sc 2 in next st, repeat from * 5 times, fasten off with long tail.

For the ornaments (Not worked in the round, can use multiple colors):

ch 2, sc 2 in the 2nd ch from hook, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, fasten off with tail.

For the tinsel I used an old bead necklace, cut it, and slip it through stitches to hold it in place. Use the tail of the ornaments to sew them on around the tree randomly. Stuff the tree and use the long tails of the bottom of the tree and the tree to stitch the bottom onto the tree. If you have a cute piece of fabric you can just stitch that onto the bottom.

Nut Butter

My parents destore  to surprise us and c  I doisit for about a week. Imicrowaveso nice to have someone actually come visit us in Lubbock! We went driving around Lubbock, seeing the sights, spending WAY too much money at Sprouts and other various locations. Mom had brought some homemade cashew butter with her and then ended up using almost all our peanut butter to make an amazing asian peanut sauce. All that toif you Ayotte it in the fridge, like I do, then you might want to microwave it for 20 -30 second to make it more  say we decided to buy some dry roasted, unsalted cashews and attempt to make some homemade cashew butter with my Magic Bullet (TM) because my mom had used her full size food processor and said that a small food processor would work better.

Doesn't just look so awesome! Don't worry I'll have the recipe below so you don't have to zoom in on the picture!

We took the dry roasted cashews and ground them in the magic bullet.

Then I suggest adding the salt and grinding one more time, especially if you chose to use any form of course salt. Then we added olive oil one-half tablespoon at a time, and honey one teaspoon at a time since we weren't sure how much it would take of either of them.

Then we ground it, add more honey and olive oil, ground it more, etc. until it became a thick paste, like peanut butter :-)

Then I scooped it into a half-pint jar, ready to be eaten and enjoyed!

I haven't tried almonds yet but that will be next and I will update the blog accordingly! Now that you've listened to me ramble on and have suffered through my amateur photographs here's the recipe:

Nut Butter

1 cup dry, roasted, unsalted nuts (choose any nut you would like, we chose unsalted so we could control the amount of salt in it)
1/2 t salt
2 t honey
2-4 T oil (peanut, almond, olive, vegetable, if you can stick with whatever nut you're using)

Blend or grind nuts in a small food processor or a magic bullet. If using sea salt or Kosher salt add after nuts are ground and blend or process again. Add honey and oil one teaspoon or tablespoon at a time and blend well. Add just enough oil to make it smooth, if you do more than one round as the blade gets hot it will be more doughy than buttery, just be prepared for that and don't over-add oil.

NOTE: If you store it in the fridge, like I do, then you will want to microwave it for 20-30 seconds before you use it to make it spread easier. Microwave without the ring and lid :)